Ezekiel 11:19, 20  “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” (NIV)

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Our Father in heaven not only rescues but renews. He refreshes and restores his people. He receives all who turn their hearts toward Him. 

His repair work makes hearts and minds better than new.  He blows fresh winds through a person’s life, driving out the stale and sour air lingering from the sordid activities of their past.

George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life stood on a bridge in the snow and repeatedly prayed, “I want to live again.” And so he did.

Have you ever felt the need to pray a prayer like this? Is now a time when you need to pray a prayer like this? Listen to what God says about how He answers prayers like this. 

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

An undivided heart, a new spirit, a deep and abiding relationship with God await all those who turn to Him and simply pray, “I want to live again.” 

God is in the business of exchanging new lives for old. 

You and I can do better than the same old, same old. 

We can live again. 

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I will exchange everything stale and sour for the fresh breeze of God’s Spirit blowing through my life. 

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Our Father, blow your refreshing breeze through my life. Drive away everything stale and sour. Empower me to live again. Empower me to live fully attuned to your heart and mind, fully aligned with your will and ways. Thank you for always hearing and answering this kind of prayer. Amen. 

A Note: I use the dictation app Wispr Flow to write these devotionals. This is a wonderful tool. However, it has not yet learned to use a capital G or a lowercase g when referring to God. Sometimes it gets it right. Sometimes it does not. I tell you this only because I don’t want you to think I’m psychotic. I’m confident the app will learn after repeated use. Until then, smile and know that I am not that great of a grammar and syntax failure.